— I have been working with computers for quite a long time, probably since the first grade, it's somewhere around 89-90s. That's when I got a computer called «Impulse». I skilfully downloaded games from cassettes and then made my first attempts to program in Basic using a book
— Well, I had a book, I could read, so I guess it was that interesting. Of course, it was mostly games that interested me. Then, closer to class 10-11, the Internet appeared. Oh, and I was also a FIDO node. Mostly it happened at night - during the day I was «stung» and told not to do such things. It was probably my first experience of communicating with people through the net.
It was around that time, when I was in 10th grade, that I got into the Training and Production Combine. We didn't have programming at school, but I was interested in working with computers, and so I got into the Training and Production Combine. My speciality was either operator-programmer or laboratory assistant-programmer, something like that. The teacher who taught me all this was a graduate of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics.
At that time, I didn't really understand what programmers did at all. I understand how it happens at a normal job: if you are an accountant, you come to work and work. You count, you make reports. But what a programmer does, I did not realise. But the subject was interesting. So the teacher told me that everyone who wanted to become a programmer should take applied mathematics. From that moment on, I realised that I needed mathematics.
I used to stand in queues for hours to get to the university's Internet centre. It was then that I began to realise that the emergence of these technologies had a significant impact on people's lives: it became easier to find information, it became much easier to communicate with people. All this showed me at that time that IT was important.
In my third year of study, I was already working as a developer, and somewhere around that time I realised that I could do something with the help of technology myself and bring some benefit to people. It was around this time that I met Sergey and I even launched something like our first startup: we were developing software for energy facilities. I started the whole thing, and later Sergey joined in.
I guess that time was my entry into IT. Although, to tell the truth, I wasn't there all the time....
— It was due to the fact that I was working in a young company. It was a start-up that was organised by my friend's classmate's dad. And I've always had this desire to dive in and learn how systems work. And at that point, I was interested in what a company was in general and how work was structured in it. I guess that's what motivated me to understand a little bit about economics.
At that time, I was not very interested in sitting around all day programming. The software we were making at the time was more or less clear to me, but my prospects were not. What happened next? The company was organised in such a way that part of some strategy was hidden from people and I lacked information: «Where are we going? Why are we going there? Do we need this?». That's where I started trying to figure out how business works, and I started just as I was deciding to go into a different department. The culmination was that I decided to try another profession as well and went to work in a well-known sports shop as an economist. My main tasks were related to planning sales, purchases and the company's budget.
— At the time of graduation, I was still a developer. Somewhere between 2006 and 2007, I worked as an economist.
— I was tired of flitting from job to job, and I didn't see much prospect there or there. I looked inside at a small start-up and its slight bureaucratisation, I looked at a larger company with a staff of about a thousand people and its bureaucratisation. Probably, I simply became «not enough» of that activity, and I will repeat about the prospects that were not on the horizon. I already had a rough idea, or rather, at that moment it seemed to me that I had a more or less idea of how the company worked. This was, of course, a misconception.
And around that time there were 7 of us and we regularly discussed: «Maybe we should open something and do what we like to do?». We met periodically, discussed what and how we should do it, but somehow everything was going hard. In the end, Sergei and I decided that we should stop being stupid and do something about it. And as the circle began to narrow gradually, it eventually narrowed down to two people who decided that it was time. I forgot to say that we started Initlab with my friend Galya. She was the third founder and initially helped with the bookkeeping.
I was not an expert in the first areas of Initlab at all, I had to learn everything all over again. But it was IT, we had some kind of business plan, we liked it and believed that IT outsourcing was a topic and that it would be cool in general.
— Of course, I remember the first successes. I believe it was the first sale. We set up a company which deals with IT outsourcing, i.e. computer maintenance. It was more my subject, because Sergei worked mainly with websites.
At one event, we met a guy. When he found out what we were doing, he said: «I'd like to sell your services!». And he attracted our very first client; it was a success. But you have to hand it to him: it happened a few months after Initlab opened.
At that time I continued to work for the sports company, but they didn't want to let me go straight away. And even though I said: «Dudes, I'm out of here», I was gently persuaded to take a part-time position while we got things settled. The offer was good, so I stayed on part-time.
It was a great opportunity for a smooth start. Before I was fired, we had already found clients. So, the first success was the first client, and the next important stage was when I was fired, when we had more clients. Well, another one was the first employees.
— I guess it depends on what roles are fulfilled. For me, the criterion that a person is ours lies in the decisions he makes in situations that are not described anywhere. That is, what principles he is guided by for situations that are not regulated. Here's a situation that didn't exist before: how will he act? And the one who will make a decision like me, he is a good man (laughs).
— The way the company values are set out: honestly, openly, with respect for the client and with a desire to deliver results. Let's say there is a conflict with a client. One person will start arguing and proving that the client is wrong. And the other will take a break and say that we have accepted the situation, we will look into it, analyse it and give feedback. For me, the second option is closer, more constructive. Why prove something if you don't have full information? On the other hand, the client will calm down by the time the information is available.
— I guess what is important to me personally is that the client appreciates our services. We are actually selling our time and we can never give it back to anyone. And it is important to me that the client uses our services with gratitude and pays us for our labour. I realise that this may sound ridiculous, but it is there and it is important.
When you read a client's feedback, you are shocked at how happy they are with the results you give and how much it helps their business. If clients don't appreciate what we give, it's a question of whether it's worth it.
— Yes. Sometimes the quality that Initlab provides is simply not needed by the client. Sometimes the client himself needs to change to make our services fit. Sometimes they ask for more from us, and this is a separate service for us, and sometimes they may need less, but we give the maximum, which costs more. And the person on the other side doesn't understand why so much labour and money is needed.
— Well, I guess it's like this: Initlab is first and foremost people, it's a team. It is experience and expertise.
— That's a good question. Well, I think we'll be bigger, the team will be bigger. And I'd also like to create a product by then. Hopefully we can do that.
— It's hard to say. I think that by then we should already be trying not international co-operation, but international sales of our products. So that we can sell abroad not only to one country, but to different countries. I hope that Drupal will not pump up the marketplace.
— No, I don't. To be honest, I try to balance it. My family, my parents, my friends, my spiritual and professional development are important to me, that is, I myself am important.... Initlab is probably a big part of my life, so I try to make sure that my whole circle of priorities gets enough of me, although there are skews. I'll be testing products at night, or my family will tell me I'm lost. I like to spend time with my children, with my son we have football and chess, so I balance my values.
— I think so. It took me about 7 years to realise the importance of marketing and sales. I may be dumb, but it was a revelation to me how important this story is. I think there's a lot of things that could be changed in that regard.
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